System and method for retrieving information while commanding operation of an appliance

ABSTRACT

Media rendering system including a remote control device and associated docking station. The remote control device interfaces with a remote server to stream media content for local and/or external playback. The remote control device may interface with a docking station to playback rendered media on one or more entertainment appliances. The portable device preferably has standard remote control capability in order to enable advanced features and functions for media playback.

RELATED APPLICATION DATA

This application claims the benefit of and is a continuation of U.S.application No. 11/179,289, filed Jul. 11, 2005, which applicationclaims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/588,523, filedon Jul. 16, 2004, which applications are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to consumer electronics, and, moreparticularly, relates to media rendering devices.

Many consumers have begun storing digital media files such as photos,audio files, video files, and multimedia files on personal computers,laptops, servers, or other computing devices for playback and sharingpurposes. These consumers also typically have one or more controllableplayback appliances (e.g., TV, Audio Receiver, etc.) in an entertainmentenvironment that are capable of playing traditional media sources (i.e.,media information from a VCR, DVD, CD, PVR, etc.). It has becomeincreasingly popular among consumer electronics manufacturers to createdevices and systems that enable the playback of digital media files froma consumers computing device on one or more of the consumerscontrollable playback appliances in the entertainment environment,typically by means of streaming or sending such media content over awired or wireless network to the appliances via a “media rendering”device which is able to convert received digital information into analogsignals or other input signals required by the playback appliances.Media rendering devices can be standalone devices, or can be integratedinto any traditional entertainment appliance (i.e., TV, Audio Receiver,VCR, DVD, CD, PVR, etc).

Additionally, wireless control devices such as universal remote controlsare widely used by consumers in conjunction with entertainmentappliances for command and control purposes. It is also well known toprovide a separate docking device (“docking station”) with controldevices for charging of batteries. While current universal remotecontrol devices typically lack advanced computing and media renderingcapabilities, more advanced control devices have begun to emerge and toincorporate such features. For instance, the HP iPaq rx3xxx series ofPocket PC's is able to function as a wireless control device usingonboard software and wireless communication (IR and/or RF) capabilities,and also incorporates media rendering capabilities in that it can streamand playback media content from a server.

It is desirable for users of such advanced control devices to not onlycontrol the functions of entertainment appliances and make use ofonboard media rendering capabilities, but also to interface with theentertainment appliances such that media streamed to the control device,or contained locally on the control device may be played on theentertainment appliances. Accordingly, it is desired to provide a systemfor rendering media on one or more entertainment appliances using acontrol device and associated docking station which functions to bothcharge the control device, and provide an interface between the controldevice and entertainment appliance(s) for playback of media information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with these needs and desires, a system including a controldevice and associated docking station is hereinafter described.Generally, an advanced control device, such as a universal remotecontrol with integrated media rendering capabilities is described,which, in conjunction with an associated docking station, is able toplay back rendered media files on a users entertainment appliance(s). Asa user operates the onboard media rendering capabilities of the advancedcontrol device, the current media content being rendered may be playedback on the users entertainment appliances(s) by placing the controldevice in the associated docking station. Based on detection by thecontrol device of docked or undocked states, various additional controland media playback functions may be effected.

A better understanding of the objects, advantages, features, propertiesand relationships of the subject system and devices will be obtainedfrom the following detailed description and accompanying drawings whichset forth illustrative embodiments which are indicative of the variousways in which the principles of the system and devices may be employed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to apreferred embodiment shown in the following drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a pictorial drawing of an exemplary universal remotecontrol in which the principles of the subject invention may beembodied;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of components of an exemplary remotecontrol;

FIG. 3 illustrates a pictorial drawing of an exemplary docking stationfor use in connection with the universal remote control illustrated inFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 illustrates an electrical schematic diagram of the connectionpoints of the exemplary docking station illustrated in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 illustrates an electrical schematic diagram of an exemplary delaycircuit of the exemplary docking station;

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of the components of the exemplarydocking station which has integrated transceiver capabilities;

FIG. 7 illustrates a pictorial drawing of the universal remote controland docking station in a docked state;

FIG. 8 illustrates one embodiment of the media rendering system of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 9 illustrates an alternate embodiment of the media rendering systemof the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference to the figures, a system and devices are described foruse in rendering media files for playback on one or more entertainmentappliances.

Generally, an advanced control device, such as a universal remotecontrol with integrated media rendering capabilities is described,which, in conjunction with an associated docking station, is able toplay back rendered media files on a users entertainment appliance(s). Asa user operates the onboard media rendering capabilities of the advancedcontrol device, the current media content being rendered may be playedback on the users entertainment appliances(s) by placing the controldevice in the associated docking station.

Advanced control devices as contemplated by the current invention maytake a variety of forms, but in general are able to accomplish bothremote control based functions (i.e., Power, Volume Up/Down, ChannelUp/Down, Transport functions, etc.) via IR and/or RF communicationlinks, and media rendering functions (i.e., Audio/video streaming andplayback from a remote server). One example of such advanced controldevices is the iPaq rx3xxx series of Pocket PC's by Hewlett PackardCorp. which incorporates Nevo home control software and iPaq MediaManager software (both by Universal Electronics Inc.) for remote controland media rendering functions. For further information regarding theNevo home control software, the interested reader is referred topublished pending U.S. patent applications 2003/0103088 “User Interfacefor a Hand Held Remote Control Device;” 2003/0193519 “System And MethodFor Controlling The Recording Functionality Of An Appliance Using AProgram Guide;” and 2003/0048295 “System and Method for UpdatingInformation in a Portable Electronic Device”, all incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

Generally, the docking station includes a power input for charging thecontrol device when docked, interface connections for connecting to oneor more entertainment appliances, and contact points for electricallyconnecting the control device to the docking station when the controldevice is docked.

Either or both the control device and docking station may containsoftware and/or hardware components for enabling the detection of dockedand undocked states to enable the functions and features set forthherein.

Looking now to the figures, an exemplary remote control device 10 isshown in FIG. 1. Integrated recharging contacts 107 and signal contacts104 enable electrical connection and communication with docking station700. As will be described below in greater detail, contacts 107 and 104interface with recharging contacts 707 and signal contacts 704 of thedocking station 700, respectively.

For use in transmitting command codes and other data to one or more ofthe appliances 12, the remote control 10 may include, as needed for aparticular application, a processor 24 coupled to a memory device (suchas ROM memory 26, RAM memory 27, and/or a non-volatile memory 34), a keymatrix 28 (e.g., physical buttons, a touch screen display, or acombination thereof), an internal clock and timer 30, transmissioncircuit(s) 32, receiver circuit(s) 33 and/or transceiver circuit(s)(e.g., IR and/or RF), a means 36 to provide feedback to the user (e.g.,LED, display, speaker, and/or the like), and a power supply 38 asgenerally illustrated in FIG. 2. As will be understood by those of skillin the art, the memory device may include executable instructions thatare intended to be executed by the processor 24 to control the operationof the remote control 10. In this manner, the processor 24 may beprogrammed to control the various electronic components within theremote control 10, e.g., to monitor the power supply 38 and therecharging status thereof, to cause the transmission of signals, etc.

The non-volatile read/write memory 34, for example an EEPROM,battery-backed up RAM, Smart Card, memory stick, or the like, may beprovided to store setup data and parameters as necessary. While thememory system is described as comprising all three classes of memory, itwill be appreciated that, in general, such a memory system need notnecessarily support all three, and can be comprised of any type ofcomputer-readable media, such as ROM, RAM, SRAM, FLASH, EEPROM, SmartCard, memory stick, a chip, a hard disk, a magnetic disk, and/or anoptical disk or the like in combination. Preferably, however, at leastpart of the memory system should be non-volatile or battery backed suchthat basic setup parameters and operating features will survive loss ofbattery power. Still further, it will be appreciated that some or all ofthe illustrated memory devices 26, 27, and 34 may be physicallyincorporated within the same IC chip as the microprocessor 24 (a socalled “microcontroller”) and, as such, they are shown separately inFIG. 2 only for the sake of clarity. For accomplishing media renderingoperations of the current invention, the memory devices of the remotecontrol may be configured with programming and instructions to receivingincoming media streams from receiving circuit 33, to convert thosestreams to media data which is able to be played by one or more playbackapplications of remote control 10 via the display, speaker(s), or otherfeedback mechanism.

To identify home appliances by type and make (and sometimes model) suchthat the remote control device 10 is adapted to transmit recognizablecommand codes in the format appropriate for such identified appliances12, data may be entered into the universal remote control device 10.Since methods for setting up a remote control to control the operationof specific home appliances are well-known, such methods need not bedescribed in greater detail herein. Nevertheless, for additionalinformation pertaining to remote control setup, the reader may turn toU.S. Pat. Nos. 4,959,810, 5,614,906, and 6,225,938 or previouslyreferenced published application U.S. 2003/0103088. It will also beappreciated that the remote control 10 may be set up to control anappliance 12 by being taught the command codes needed to control suchappliance as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,887.

To cause the remote control 10 to perform an action, the remote control10 is adapted to be responsive to events, such as a sensed userinteraction with the key matrix 28, receipt of a transmission, etc. Inresponse to an event, appropriate instructions within the memory 26 maybe executed. For example, when a command key is activated on the remotecontrol 10, the remote control 10 may retrieve a command codecorresponding to the activated command key from memory 26 and transmitthe command code to a device in a format recognizable by the device. Itwill be appreciated that the instructions within the memory 26 can beused not only to cause the transmission of command codes and/or data tothe appliances 12 but also to perform local operations, i.e., respondingto a dock or undock event such that media playback on remote control 10is appropriately initiated, rerouted, or converted, as described ingreater detail below. While not limiting, other local operations thatmay be performed by the remote control 10 include displayinginformation/data, favorite channel setup, macro button setup, functionkey relocation, remote location sensing, etc. Examples of localoperations can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,481,256, 5,959,751, and6,014,092. Additional examples of remote controls 10 may be found incommonly owned, U.S. Pat. No. 6,225,938 and U.S. Application Ser. Nos.60/264,767, 09/905,423, 09/905,432, and 09/905,396.

Also included in the docking station 700 is exemplary delay circuit 40shown in FIG. 5 providing circuitry for powering on one or more LED's 49a, 49 b, 49 c to indicate to a user that the remote control 10 hasdetected that it is properly docked in docking station 700. In general,such docking circuitry and associated monitoring programming forenabling so called “hot” docking operations (i.e., electricallyconnecting a portable device to a power source such as a dock while theportable device is powered on) is well known in the art and thefunctions and features of thereof will be understood and appreciated bythose skilled in the art. In particular, with reference to delay circuit40, when remote control 10 detects that it has been successfully docked,its power monitoring programming may enable the “LED ON” signal 42 viarecharging contacts 107, 707, causing timer IC 44 to enable transistor48, thereby illuminating charging base LEDs 49 a, 49 b, 49 c for apredetermined period of time. Switch 46 is provided to allow the user todisable this feature if desired.

FIG. 3 shows exemplary docking station 700 which is able to providepower and/or a communication interface to remote control 10. To this endand as described above, the remote control may include rechargingcontacts 107 and signal contacts 104. The contacts 107 and 104 areprovided to electrically couple with corresponding contacts 707 and 704in the charging base 700. The exemplary docking station 700 depicted inFIG. 3 may therefore comprise a power input 701 for attachment to, forexample, stepped-down power originating from an adapter (not shown)plugged into a household electrical socket. Input 701 is connected tocontacts 707. In one embodiment as shown in FIG. 4, the signal contacts704 which interface with signal contacts 104 on remote control 10connect to output interface 714 and ground 716. Output interface 714depicted in FIGS. 3 and 4 is a standard left/right RCA audio outputconnection which can easily be connected with an audio receiver or otheraudio playback appliance. It will be understood that output interface714 could be any connection type, including but not limited to RCA,Optical TOS, S-Video, Component Video, DVI, Coaxial, HDMI, etc.Additionally, circuitry and other signal conversion means may beimplemented with docking station 700 to enable the output of a widevariety of signals, digital or analog, from docking station 700 withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the current invention.

Optionally, as illustrated in FIG. 6, docking station 700 may beconfigured with additional components to enable enhanced capabilities inconjunction with remote control 10, such as wireless media transmissionand reception, addressability for location based functions, and advancedcommand and control functions. As such, docking station 700 may include,as needed for a particular application, a processor 50 coupled to a ROMmemory 52, an internal clock and timer 53, receiver circuit(s) 54,transmission circuit(s) 55 and/or transceiver circuit(s) (e.g., IRand/or RF), a non-volatile read/write memory 56, a means 58 to providefeedback to the user (e.g., LED, display, speaker, and/or the like), apower supply 701, and input means 64, (e.g., serial I/O port, Ethernet,1394 firewire, wireless receiver, bar code scanner, etc.), rechargingcontacts 707 and signal contacts 704, as is generally illustrated inFIG. 6. The input means 64 may be used to connect the docking station700 to a common home control unit (such as a server, HVAC controller,etc.) in order to enable communication and timing operations betweenseveral other docking stations, media servers, and/or appliances. TheROM memory 52 includes executable instructions that are intended to beexecuted by the processor 50 to control the operation of the dockingstation 700. In this manner, the processor 50 may be programmed tocontrol the various electronic components within the docking station700, e.g., to monitor the power supply 701 and contacts 707 and 704, tocause the transmission of signals, to provide audio or visual prompts toa user, etc. The non-volatile read/write memory 56, for example anEEPROM, battery-backed up RAM, Smart Card, memory stick, or the like, isprovided to store setup data and parameters as necessary. While thememory 52 is illustrated and described as a ROM memory, memory 52 canalso be comprised of any type of readable media, such as ROM, RAM, SRAM,FLASH, EEPROM, or the like. Preferably, at least part of the memory 56is non-volatile or battery-backed such that data is not required to bereloaded after power is removed from central state server 14. Inaddition, the memories 52 and 56 may take the form of a chip, a harddisk, a magnetic disk, and/or an optical disk. It will also beappreciated that in cases where docking station capability is integratedinto an appliance, some or all of the functional elements describedabove in conjunction with FIG. 6 may be combined with similar elementsalready present in the appliance for other purposes.

For transmitting and receiving information between remote control 10 anddocking station 700 when remote control 10 is not in a docked state (asshown in FIG. 9), communication may be performed using an IR protocolsuch as XMP (described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/431,930) an RF protocol such as Bluetooth or 802.11, X-10 commands,SCP, IP, UPnP, HAVi, or any other suitable wireless and/or wiredtransmission methods. All that is required is that the remote control 10and docking station 700 be able to communicate data in at least aunidirectional fashion from the remote control 10 to the docking station700 in order to enable the system of the current invention. It will beappreciated that due to the wide variety of communication methods andprotocols that may be required to adequately communicate information toand/or from the docking station, the ability of the remote controland/or docking station to dynamically transmit and receive a greaternumber of protocols will enable compatibility for media rendering andstreaming operations with a greater number of media types and formats.It will additionally be appreciated that programming on the remotecontrol and/or or docking station may be used for making determinationsas to which communication methods and protocols may be used for a givenmedia format to most effectively bring about desired media renderingoperations, as described in greater detail below.

FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrates two configurations for interfacing the remotecontrol 10 with a docking station 700 for purposes of rendering media(generally stored or accessible from server 90) on associatedentertainment appliance(s) 12. Configuration 1 shown in FIG. 8 isrepresentative of the above-described system configuration where theremote control 10 interfaces with the docking station 700 only via aphysical connection (signal contacts 104 and 704). Configuration 2 shownin FIG. 9 is representative of a wireless interface where the data isable to be sent through the transmitting circuit 32 of the remotecontrol 10, to the receiver 54 of docking station 700. It will beunderstood that server 90 may be any remote computing device, from whichmedia files may be made accessible to remote control 10 for streamingand/or media rendering purposes as contemplated by the presentinvention.

In keeping with the subject system and method, the remote control 10and/or docking station 700 preferably include programming such thatdocking states may be readily ascertained in order to appropriatedmanipulate media streams being rendered or played back via the remotecontrol 10. For example, when docking station 700 is configured withoutwireless communication means as shown in FIG. 4 and is essentially asignal pass through for remote control 10, programming on remote control10 may be configured to play rendered media from onboard display orspeaker elements (local playback mode) when in an undocked state, andupon initiation of a dock event, to reroute the currently playing mediainformation from the onboard display or speaker elements to the signalcontacts 104 for playback on the users entertainment appliance(s)(external playback mode) connected to connection interface 714 of thedocking station. In this way a user may easily switch between the localplayback mode and external playback mode by simply docking and undockingthe remote control as desired. Additionally, programming on the remotecontrol 10 may implement command and control events for theentertainment appliance(s) on which media information is to be played inresponse to detection of dock and undock states. For example, in orderthat an audio file being played back locally on the remote control 10begins playing externally on the users desired audio receiver connectedto the docking station when a dock event occurs without furtherintervention by the user, the remote control may be programmed to poweron the audio receiver and select the correct input mode upon detectionof a dock event. Likewise, in addition to switching back to a localplayback mode, the remote control may be programmed to power down orotherwise modify the functional states of an entertainment applianceupon detection of an undock event. In this context, a contemplatedembodiment of the docking station may include additional contacts usedto convey an address value to the remote control placed into it. In thismanner multiple docking stations may be provided for different rooms,each with a unique address, and the remote control may be adapted toautomatically configure its command formats and sequences to match theequipment in the room in which it is currently docked. In any case, itwill be understood that any number of functions and/or actions may beimplemented on the remote control in response to detection of dock andundock events.

For systems in which the docking station includes wireless and/or otherfunctional capabilities as generally described in connection with FIG. 6above, additional features and functions may be accomplished. Forexample, as shown generally in FIG. 9, a wireless capable dockingstation may be configured to receive media information from remotecontrol 10 wirelessly before output to entertainment appliances 12. Inthis way media being rendered on remote control 10 could be sent todocking station 700 when docked or undocked. Programming on remotecontrol 10 may present a user with on screen selection buttons to selectwhether a user desires local or external playback modes. Additionally,it may be desirable to implement multiple docking stations in caseswhere a user has more than one entertainment environment on whichrendered media is desired to be played back. Each docking station may beassigned, either at the time of manufacture or by a user, an addresssufficient to uniquely identify the dock from among other docks used inconjunction with the remote control. The address information may be reador received by the remote control upon a docking event with a givendocking station, or may be sent wirelessly by the docking station inresponse to a request by the remote control or as part of an automatedprocess in the docking station. Programming on the remote control mayuse the address information from the docking station to accomplishlocation based functions (such as those described more fully inco-pending application 60/517,558 entitled “System and Method forControlling Device Location Determination”) or other advanced commandand control functions. Additionally, dock and undock events detected bythe remote control may be used to initial save and recall stateoperation, such as those described more fully in co-pending application60/517,737 entitled “System and Method for Saving and Recalling StateData for Media and Home Appliances.” It is also contemplated thatdocking station 700 may including onboard IR receiver capabilities andassociated programming to enable command and state monitoring functions,such as those described more fully in co-pending application Ser. Nos.10/665,650 entitled “System and Method for Monitoring Remote ControlTransmissions,” and Ser. No. 10/603,839 entitled “System and Method forMonitoring Remote Control Transmissions.”

The system and devices of the present invention has been described abovein terms of functional modules in block diagram format. It is understoodthat unless otherwise stated to the contrary herein, one or morefunctions and features may be integrated in a single physical device ora software module in a software product, or one or more functions may beimplemented in separate physical devices or software modules, withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

For instance, it will be understood and appreciated by those skilled inthe art that the remote control 10 of the present invention may be anyportable control device (including but not limited to IR and/or RF basedremotes, portable phones, wireless capable PDAs, etc.) capable ofrendering media data and sending command codes remotely to appliances12. Likewise, the docking station 700 of the present invention may beany device that is able to interface with remote control 10 in order torecharge and communicate data. Still further, it will be appreciatedthat the docking station 700 may be configured (using any of theconfiguration methods discussed above) to thereby adapt the dockingstation 700 to communicate commands to one of more appliances, e.g., thedocking station 700 may have a library of commands, may be adapted tolearn commands, etc. It will also be understood that in this case theremote control 10, for example, may communicate “generic” commands tothe docking station 700, i.e., commands not having an appliance specificformat or protocol, which “generic” commands may then translated by thedocking station 700 to commands which are formatted appropriately for anintended target appliance for communication by the docking station 700to the same.

All patents cited within this document are hereby incorporated byreference in their entirety.

It is appreciated that detailed discussion of the actual implementationof each module is not necessary for an enabling understanding of theinvention. The actual implementation is well within the routine skill ofa programmer and system engineer, given the disclosure herein of thesystem attributes, functionality, and inter-relationship of the variousfunctional modules in the system. A person skilled in the art, applyingordinary skill can practice the present invention without undueexperimentation.

While various concepts have been described in detail, it will beappreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications andalternatives to those concepts could be developed in light of theoverall teachings of the disclosure. As such, the particular conceptsdisclosed are meant to be illustrative only and not limiting as to thescope of the invention which is to be given the full breadth of theappended claims and any equivalents thereof

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for causing an appliance to playstreaming media, comprising: receiving at a portable electronic device amedia stream; causing the portable electronic device to route thereceived media stream for a playing of the received media stream on theportable electronic device; detecting by that the portable electronicdevice that the portable electronic device has been placed intocommunication with the appliance; and in response to the portableelectronic device detecting that the portable electronic device has beenplaced into communication with the appliance: causing the portableelectronic device to automatically reroute the received media stream fora playing of the received media stream on the appliance instead ofrouting the received media stream for the playing of the received mediasteam on the portable electronic device; causing the appliance to beautomatically placed into an operating state appropriate for the playingof the received media stream on the appliance comprises causing theappliance to be automatically placed into a powered on state.
 2. Themethod as recited in claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device isplaced into communication with the appliance via use a wirelesscommunications protocol.
 3. The method as recited in claim 2, whereinthe wireless communications protocol comprises a radio frequencyprotocol.
 4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the portableelectronic device comprises commands transmittable to the appliance tocontrol functional operations of the appliance.
 5. The method as recitedin claim 4, wherein the commands transmittable to the appliance includea power on and a power off command.
 6. The method as recited in claim 1,wherein the appliance comprises a television.
 7. The method as recitedin claim 1, comprising causing the portable electronic device to receivethe media stream from a server device via a wide area network.
 8. Themethod as recited in claim 1, comprising causing the portable electronicdevice to receive the media stream from a server device via a local areanetwork.
 9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein causing theappliance to be automatically placed into the powered on state comprisescausing the portable electronic device to automatically transmit a powercontrol command to the appliance.
 10. The method as recited in claim 1,wherein causing the appliance to be automatically placed into theoperating state appropriate for the playing of the received media streamon the appliance further comprises causing the appliance to beautomatically placed into a selected input mode state.
 11. The method asrecited in claim 10, wherein causing the appliance to be automaticallyplaced into a selected input mode state comprises causing the portableelectronic device to automatically transmit an input mode selectioncommand to the appliance.